Watch CG-1432 Crash Video

The CG-1432 Crash was a United States Coast Guard aviation accident which involved five crewmembers aboard a helicopter responding to a distress call from the Japanese fishing vessel Kaisei Maru #18. On the morning of February 18, 1979, Kaisei Maru #18 sent a distress call. The call indicated... Show More

The CG-1432 Crash was a United States Coast Guard aviation accident which involved five crewmembers aboard a helicopter responding to a distress call from the Japanese fishing vessel Kaisei Maru #18. On the morning of February 18, 1979, Kaisei Maru #18 sent a distress call. The call indicated that a 47-year-old crewmember was in distress and needed to be airlifted off the ship, which was operating in the North Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard Sikorsky HH-3F Pelican helicopter CG-1432 from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod at Sandwich, Massachusetts, was alerted and sent out to the vessel. The weather that morning was stormy and conditions were not ideal for flight. On the way to Kasei Maru #18, the helicopter was forced to ditch into the sea after losing power. It remained stable for a brief time before the heavy seas flipped it. This most likely caused the death of four crew members: Canadian Armed Forces Captain G. Richard Burge and U.S. Coast Guard personnel Lieutenant Commander James Stiles, Petty Officer Second Class John Tait, and Petty Officer Second Class Bruce Kaehler. The lone survivor, U.S. Goast Guard Petty Officer Second Class Mark Torr remembers the flipping of the Show Less